“I feel I cannot let this happen to my sister because she is gay,” she said. “I just feel really helpless.”

“It is not okay, regardless if she is gay or not, to do this to an 18-year-old. It is absolutely disgusting.”

Ansell said that this isn’t the first time that the attackers have made homophobic comments about Mulholland.

“As soon as they have an argument, it is straight to her being a lesbian,” she said. “Because she smokes they won’t take her cigarettes off her because they say they will get lesbian germs.”

Detective Chief Inspector Ali Sweeting said that the investigation is in its “early stages” and that homophobic attacks will not be tolerated.

“If it is established that there was a homophobic motive we will be treating this appropriately,” she said. “We deal with all hate incidents and crimes thoroughly and do not expect the people of our communities to have to suffer from the intolerance of others.”